AFRIN, Syria – The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) has seen the arrival of many foreign fighters to help them in their battle against Turkish-led forces in the Syrian northwest canton of Afrin.

The YPG foreign fighter battalion, “international volunteers,” announced that they would join leave other areas of northern Syria to join in the “struggle”.

“We joined the fight against ISIS for years, we will not stay silent while Afrin is being attacked by Turkish occupation army” one foreign fighter said.

“The world has turned a blind eye to Afrin. Nobody knows what really is going on here. No matter if is against ISIS terrorism or Turkey’s state terrorism, we will fight,” said a fighter.

Paul Antonopoulos is a Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies. He has an MA in International Relations and is interested in Great Power Rivalry as well as the International Relations and Political Economy of the Middle East and Latin America.